Claro Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Claro Advisors LLC lowered its stake in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 51.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,539 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 83.0% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 438,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,445,000 after purchasing an additional 199,078 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in Wendy’s in the second quarter valued at $161,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Wendy’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,094,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,446,000 after buying an additional 70,514 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Wendy’s by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 46,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Wendy’s by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 106,230 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,802,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Wendy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Wendy’s from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wendy’s from $18.00 to $18.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.04.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of Wendy’s stock opened at $15.13 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.78. The Wendy’s Company has a 52-week low of $14.73 and a 52-week high of $20.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.47.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25. Wendy’s had a return on equity of 70.02% and a net margin of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wendy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.61%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.26%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.